Teach
02-02-2015, 07:24 PM
New Orleans, LA. Late-January, 1981. The Louisiana Superdome. The Iran Hostage Crisis had just ended.
I had taken a leave-of-absence from teaching history in the summer of 1980 to work as Boston radio station WEEI’s – CBS Radio in Boston – Manager of Network Sports Operations. My job: to set up and manage WEEI’s New England Patriots radio network.
The Patriots didn’t make the playoffs that year (actually, they just missed), but middle-management types, e.g., yours truly, along with station management, sales staff, and corporate sponsors, e.g., Gulf Oil, Chevrolet, Nixdorf, etc. were flown out of Boston’s Logan Airport on Northeast Airlines that Friday morning before Sunday’s game between the Oakland Raiders vs. the Philadelphia Eagles – Super Bowl XV.
About three hours later we arrived in Metairie, Louis Armstrong Airport (although I don’t remember it being called “Louis Armstrong” almost thirty-five years later); I do, however, remember it was a short hop from the airport to downtown New Orleans.
I recall my wife and I stayed in a New Orleans hotel that first night; it was somewhere near Canal St. That afternoon, we took in the French Quarter with its movable musical bands, complete with parasols. There were also trucks that were manned with people throwing trinkets and beads. I also remember we stopped at a place called Pat O’Brien’s. I recall ordering a rum drink called a “Hurricane”. It hit me like “a ton o’ bricks”. Whoa. What was it that my father used to say: “Never drink on an empty stomach!”
Well, we also sampled the Cajun cuisine, including jambalaya. However, because of a mix-up in our accommodations, we ended up in Baton Rouge (about 90 miles west) on Saturday. Not much to do there unless you wanted to take in the Mississippi River. So we just socialized with my fellow-workers and some of the corporate sponsors.
Sunday afternoon we were bussed back to New Orleans to the Louisiana Superdome. My wife and I had seats (all expenses were paid except some of our meals, and of course, souvenirs) in the end zone. We were high enough up to clearly see plays and pass routes developing down on the field below. It was Jim Plunkett vs. Ron Jaworski. The Raiders jumped out quickly and never looked back. I believe Plunkett was the MVP. Also, I believe it was the first time a wild-card team had won.
After the game, we were bussed back to Baton Rouge. The next day, Monday, we drove a rental car to the airport and an hour or so later (no screening in those days) the bunch of us were aboard another Northeast Airlines jet winging our way back to Boston.
In hindsight, it was a memorable time. The game. New Orleans. The Superdome. The food. And oh yes, that “Hurricane” drink that nearly knocked me for a loop.
As a postscript, about seven months after that trip to Super Bowl XV, I returned to teaching. Part of my reason was that I suspected that the Patriots wouldn’t be a contender during their 1981 NFL season. They weren’t. They won only two games.
I had taken a leave-of-absence from teaching history in the summer of 1980 to work as Boston radio station WEEI’s – CBS Radio in Boston – Manager of Network Sports Operations. My job: to set up and manage WEEI’s New England Patriots radio network.
The Patriots didn’t make the playoffs that year (actually, they just missed), but middle-management types, e.g., yours truly, along with station management, sales staff, and corporate sponsors, e.g., Gulf Oil, Chevrolet, Nixdorf, etc. were flown out of Boston’s Logan Airport on Northeast Airlines that Friday morning before Sunday’s game between the Oakland Raiders vs. the Philadelphia Eagles – Super Bowl XV.
About three hours later we arrived in Metairie, Louis Armstrong Airport (although I don’t remember it being called “Louis Armstrong” almost thirty-five years later); I do, however, remember it was a short hop from the airport to downtown New Orleans.
I recall my wife and I stayed in a New Orleans hotel that first night; it was somewhere near Canal St. That afternoon, we took in the French Quarter with its movable musical bands, complete with parasols. There were also trucks that were manned with people throwing trinkets and beads. I also remember we stopped at a place called Pat O’Brien’s. I recall ordering a rum drink called a “Hurricane”. It hit me like “a ton o’ bricks”. Whoa. What was it that my father used to say: “Never drink on an empty stomach!”
Well, we also sampled the Cajun cuisine, including jambalaya. However, because of a mix-up in our accommodations, we ended up in Baton Rouge (about 90 miles west) on Saturday. Not much to do there unless you wanted to take in the Mississippi River. So we just socialized with my fellow-workers and some of the corporate sponsors.
Sunday afternoon we were bussed back to New Orleans to the Louisiana Superdome. My wife and I had seats (all expenses were paid except some of our meals, and of course, souvenirs) in the end zone. We were high enough up to clearly see plays and pass routes developing down on the field below. It was Jim Plunkett vs. Ron Jaworski. The Raiders jumped out quickly and never looked back. I believe Plunkett was the MVP. Also, I believe it was the first time a wild-card team had won.
After the game, we were bussed back to Baton Rouge. The next day, Monday, we drove a rental car to the airport and an hour or so later (no screening in those days) the bunch of us were aboard another Northeast Airlines jet winging our way back to Boston.
In hindsight, it was a memorable time. The game. New Orleans. The Superdome. The food. And oh yes, that “Hurricane” drink that nearly knocked me for a loop.
As a postscript, about seven months after that trip to Super Bowl XV, I returned to teaching. Part of my reason was that I suspected that the Patriots wouldn’t be a contender during their 1981 NFL season. They weren’t. They won only two games.